Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Evaluating Cranial Nonmetric Traits In Mummies From Pachacamac, Peru: The Utility Of Semi-Automated Image Segmentation In Paleoradiology, Cameron J. Beason

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Anthropologists employ biodistance analysis to understand past population interactions and relatedness. The objectives of this thesis are twofold: to determine whether a sample of five mummies from the pilgrimage centre, Pachacamac, on the Central Coast of Peru comprised local or non-local individuals through an analysis of cranial nonmetric traits using comparative samples from the North and Central Coasts of Peru and Chile; and to test the utility of machine-learning-based image segmentation in the image analysis software, Dragonfly, to automatically segment CT scans of the mummies such that the cranial nonmetric traits are visible. Results show that while fully automated segmentation …

Improving Reader Motivation With Machine Learning, Tanner A. Bohn

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis focuses on the problem of increasing reading motivation with machine learning (ML). The act of reading is central to modern human life, and there is much to be gained by improving the reading experience. For example, the internal reading motivation of students, especially their interest and enjoyment in reading, are important factors in their academic success.

There are many topics in natural language processing (NLP) which can be applied to improving the reading experience in terms of readability, comprehension, reading speed, motivation, etc. Such topics include personalized recommendation, headline optimization, text simplification, and many others. However, to the …

Synchrotron Radiation Analysis Of Daguerreotypes: Surface Characterization, Electrocleaning, And Preservation, Madalena S. Kozachuk

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The first commercially viable photographic image, the daguerreotype, captured images from 1839 to 1860. While daguerreotypes provide a significant historical record of 19^th century individuals and events, deterioration now disfigures many of these images. This work describes the application of synchrotron radiation (SR) to the study of daguerreotypes.

Three goals were addressed in this thesis: 1) to utilize SR to further elucidate the physics and chemistry of the daguerreotype and how the surface varies with time, 2) to study the effects of the electrocleaning system on the daguerreotype surface, and 3) to propose suggestions to improve their preservation and …

Cultural Diversity In Artificial Societies: Case Studies Of The Maya Peoples, Roberto Ulloa

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The existence of cultural diversity in a connected world is paradoxical given that all individuals constantly interact and share information, and that individuals are all part of one giant network of connections. In the long term, it seems logical to assume that everybody should hold the same cultural information and, therefore, the same culture. Yet cultural diversity is still manifest around the globe. Cultural diversity as a phenomenon becomes even more puzzling when we take into account how it survives catastrophic events which regularly befall societies, such as invasions, natural disasters, and civil wars. In this thesis, agent-based computer simulations …

Similarity, Adequacy, And Purpose: Understanding The Success Of Scientific Models, Melissa Jacquart

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A central component to scientific practice is the construction and use of scientific models. Scientists believe that the success of a model justifies making claims that go beyond the model itself. However, philosophical analysis of models suggests that drawing inferences about the world from successful models is more complex. In this dissertation I develop a framework that can help disentangle the related strands of evaluation of model success, model extendibility, and the ability to draw ampliative inferences about the world from models.

I present and critically assess two leading accounts of model assessment, arguing that neither is sufficient to provide …

Probabilistic Reasoning In Cosmology, Yann Benétreau-Dupin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cosmology raises novel philosophical questions regarding the use of probabilities in inference. This work aims at identifying and assessing lines of arguments and problematic principles in probabilistic reasoning in cosmology.

The first, second, and third papers deal with the intersection of two distinct problems: accounting for selection effects, and representing ignorance or indifference in probabilistic inferences. These two problems meet in the cosmology literature when anthropic considerations are used to predict cosmological parameters by conditionalizing the distribution of, e.g., the cosmological constant on the number of observers it allows for. However, uniform probability distributions usually appealed to in such arguments …

Conduits Of Communion: Monstrous Affections In Algonquin Traditional Territory, Ian S.G. Puppe

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This project investigates the legacies of shifting land tenure and stewardship practices on what is now known as the Ottawa Valley watershed (referred to as the Kitchissippi by the Omamawinini or Algonquin people), and the effects that this central colonization project has had on issues of identity and Nationalism on Canadians, diversely identified as settler-colonists of European or at least “Old World” descent and First Nations, Métis and Inuit (Lawrence 2012).

Focusing on historical and contemporary political and social issues related to Algonquin Provincial Park and its establishment, this project explores; 1) Competing claims levied by First Nations Peoples, local …

On The Physical Explanation For Quantum Computational Speedup, Michael Cuffaro

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The aim of this dissertation is to clarify the debate over the explanation of quantum speedup and to submit, for the reader’s consideration, a tentative resolution to it. In particular, I argue that the physical explanation for quantum speedup is precisely the fact that the phenomenon of quantum entanglement enables a quantum computer to fully exploit the representational capacity of Hilbert space. This is impossible for classical systems, joint states of which must always be representable as product states. I begin the dissertation by considering, in Chapter 2, the most popular of the candidate physical explanations for quantum speedup: the …

The Reasonable Effectiveness Of Mathematics In The Natural Sciences, Nicolas Fillion

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

One of the most unsettling problems in the history of philosophy examines how mathematics can be used to adequately represent the world. An influential thesis, stated by Eugene Wigner in his paper entitled "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences," claims that "the miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve." Contrary to this view, this thesis delineates and implements a strategy to show that the applicability of mathematics is very reasonable indeed.

I distinguish three forms of the …